The Orlando Magic were the last team to defeat Michael Jordan in the playoffs during his career. It came during a tightly contested six-game series in the second round of the 1995 NBA Playoffs. Of course, it didn't come without its fair share of drama.
Beating Jordan was never easy. Early on in the series, Nick Anderson poked the bear by making a subtle comment about MJ's jersey number. According to Darrell Armstrong, it nearly changed the entire outcome of the series.
Armstrong looks back on MJ's number change
Jordan had just returned to the NBA after his brief retirement midway through the 1994-95 season, but he didn't look all that different, as he was still a star on the floor. One notable difference was that he wore the number 45 instead of his famous 23.
After Anderson stole the ball from His Airness in Game 1 to seal the deal for the Magic, he taunted MJ by saying, "45 is not 23." This irked MJ, who switched back to the number 23 after this game, and according to Armstrong, it left quite an impact on Orlando.
"Second round, we play Michael Jordan and them," Armstrong said on Knuckleheads with Quentin Richardson & Darius Miles. "That's when Nick Anderson stole the ball. To this day, until I saw 'The Last Dance,' I did not know Nick Anderson said, '45 is not 23.' Oh lord, I woulda said, 'Man, you gonna shut the f*** up? What is you doing? You don't give this man no fuel.' So when I saw that, I was like, 'Oh my God.' Never knew it. I was a newcomer still."
"Game 2, will never forget, he comes out, keeps his top on, got his pants off, shorts on, and the announcer (didn't know he had) that 23 on, 'Wearing 45, Michael Jordan.' Crowd goes crazy. We at home, but it sounds like we in Chicago because of him. Kept his top on. Both teams broke out of the huddles, coming to the court, that motherf***er took off the damn thing and I saw two-three, I said, 'Oh no, Superman is in the building…We in trouble tonight.' They won Game 2," Darrell added.
The Magic still managed to overcome the Bulls
Unsurprisingly. Jordan was pretty pumped up for Game 2, and he ended up going out and scoring 38 points to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 104-94 victory. At that point, it seemed like the Magic were in quite a bit of trouble.
As Armstrong explained, you simply could not provoke Mike, or else you'd be in serious trouble. And after a slow start to the series, it seemed like he was finally back in Game 2, which didn't bode well for the Magic.
After the two teams exchanged wins in Games 3 and 4, Orlando ended up winning the final two games of the series to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. So, in a way, this moment didn't matter much in the grand scheme of things.
However, Armstrong shares that it was a pretty scary moment for the Magic, as they thought they were about to be the next team to fall victim to Jordan's greatness. Instead, they fought through it and managed to send him packing, which set the stage for his second three-peat.
